Autumn comfort food at its finest: This a hearty, delicious stew filled with vegetables, chicken and mushrooms in a thick, gravy-like broth.

Ingredients:

* 2 and 1/2 pounds of skinless, boneless, thinly sliced chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks (You can always pound them out thin yourself)

*1/2 cup flour

* 1 Heaping teaspoon of garlic powder

*1 Heaping teaspoon of onion powder, plus 1/2 tablespoon

* 1 large sweet potato, cut into equal bite sized chunks

* 8 oz of cipollini onions, cut in half

* 8 oz of fresh or frozen corn

* 8 oz of baby bella mushrooms, stems and gills removed, caps roughly chopped

* 8 oz of carrot chips

* 1 teaspoon, plus 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, divided

* 1 and 1/4 cup of stout beer

*3 cups of low sodium chicken stock

*1 cup of water, plus 4 tablespoons, divided

*2 1/2 tablespoons of honey

* 4 tablespoons of corn starch

Instructions:

1. Mix the flour, onion powder, garlic powder and 1 teaspoon of pepper together in a Ziploc bag. Add the chicken chunks to the bag, seal, then toss to coat thoroughly, so that there is an even layer over meat.

2. Coat a large pot or Dutch Oven with olive oil. Brown meat over medium- high heat. Don’t worry about it cooking all the way through, just cook long enough to give it some color. Don’t worry about the thick layer that forms on the bottom of the pot: it’s supposed to be there.

3. De-glaze the pan with the stout beer. Once the bottom of the pot is no longer sticky, add the chicken stock, water, honey, sweet potato, onions, carrots, mushrooms, corn, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and 1/2 tablespoon of onion powder and bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat to low and simmer stew covered, for 45 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste, if need be.

5. Dissolve the cornstarch in 4 tablespoons of cold water and add to the stew. Cook uncovered over medium heat for an additional 30 minutes, until thickened. (If stew still has not thickened after 30 minutes, you can add 1 additional tablespoon of cornstarch. It’ll thicken. You’ll see.)